WARNING: Crowns are bad for the health of (incisor) teeth

In a recent editorial,¹ I strongly suggested that the results of recent publications, analysing a massive dataset,² suggested that crowns could be bad for the lifespan of posterior teeth in all but patients in older age groups. I also confessed to some bias, because I was co-author, along with Dr Steve Lucarotti, of a series of papers analysing the dataset,³ consisting of General Dental Services' patients, this being obtained from all records for adults (aged 18 or over at date of acceptance) in the GDS of England and Wales between 1990 and 2006. The data consisted of 10 million restorations followed for 16 years, and its size allowed the analysis of how long restorations lasted, but also how long the restored tooth survived. When the results are examined with respect to crowns on anterior teeth, the recent publications^3,4 indicate very strongly that crowning anterior teeth, in any age group, is detrimental to the lifespan of the restored tooth.